


Diamond in The Rough

by Flamebird38



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, F/F, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character, Slow Burn, Some Fluff, post chapter 9, woman/woman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:15:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27186427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamebird38/pseuds/Flamebird38
Summary: After Bangalore tries to help get Loba out of the mess she created, she finds out that Revenant just made everything so much more complicated and that Loba will be staying longer than anyone wants her to. Still keeping an eye out for Loba, will Bangalore find that more than just Revenant is making things complicated between the two of them.
Relationships: Loba Andrade/Bangalore | Anita Williams
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Diamond in The Rough

The night was quiet as Revenant finished his conversation—if that’s what you would even call it— with Loba. You could hear a pin drop and it seemed even the insects were too scared to make any noise. When Revenant finally turns to leave, Anita takes a deep breath and drops down from her sniping ledge. She lands behind Loba, watching both her watch as Revenant slinks back into the shadows he came out of. When both of them are sure they're alone, neither decide to speak. The air is thick with distaste even though the night itself is cool and crisp. Anita is reluctant to speak, knowing that Loba shouldn't be too happy to be ambushed back to back like this. 

“You missed your shot,” Loba finally speaks out. The words almost sound like they're intruding on the landscape around them. Loba doesn't turn around to face her human adversary. Instead, she just stares down at her weapon. “You could have taken out the so-called bad guy.”

“Yeah, well…” Anita shifts her weight, a little taken aback by the call-out. Why didn't she take the shot? She was never known for a hesitant trigger finger. But here she was, questioning everything that happened in the past few minutes. She could have taken out Revenant, given Loba enough time to get out before he came after her… But she didn't. “Get back to me when you know who that is, and I will.”

Loba finally turns toward Anita for the first time. The small lights from the ship illuminate Loba’s eyes and a few parts of her face. Anita can see the mess of emotions written on her face, watching as sadness, anger, confusion, brokenness, and fulfillment battle for dominance behind her eyes. Loba opens her mouth for a brief moment, but she quickly closes it as if deciding whatever she was going to say wasn't important.

Anita takes the smallest of steps forward, extending her arm, and reaching for the other woman. Anita didn't know what this was. Was this supposed to be her trying to comfort Loba? Was this her offering an apology? Maybe it was simply her giving Loba permission to slap her. However, when Loba notices that she’s closing the gap, she takes a few steps back. Anita immediately stops in her tracks, letting her arm flop back to her side. _Just get it over with, ‘Nita… Apologize._

Anita takes a deep breath, attempting to swallow her pride. “Loba, I—” But, as if on cue, her communicator rings with a call coming in from Gibraltar. Anita lets out an audible sigh, looking at Loba to roll her eyes but the other woman now is facing with her back towards her. 

Answering the call, Anita tries to tell Gibraltar that now isn’t a good time and whatever it was needed to wait. However, he insists it’s important and both of them needed to get back to Paradise Lounge as soon as possible. He says that their Hammond contact has sent over where they need to take the artifact and once someone got it there, they’d send Loba the coordinates for the source code. Anita nods her head even though she knows Gibraltar can’t see her, agreeing that she’d get back as soon as she was finished up. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Loba tense up and realizes that she must have tapped into the group line. She quickly thanks Gibraltar and hangs up, knowing that this was just the beginning of the next leg of the journey. 

“Well, you heard the man,” Anita says, tapping her earpiece. “Mission accomplished.”

Loba slowly turns around to face Anita once more but she looks off in the distance, almost not wanting to acknowledge the soldier standing several feet away from her. In the dim light, Anita can see her face is completely devoid of color, how her figure is slightly hunched over, and how her fingers are trembling ever so slightly. If Anita didn’t know better, she’d say Loba had been hit by a freight train. It was as if she didn’t want to believe she had gotten this far, that her journey was almost at its end. 

“Yes,” Loba says. The single word is saturated in fake confidence as she straightens her posture. When she speaks again, her tone is low as if she’s just speaking to herself. “I’m going to have my revenge… by being the answer to his prayers.”

“What are you going to do?” Anita is hesitant to speak, and, as she does, she takes a few steps towards Loba. 

“For the first time in a long time,” Loba answers, not moving back but instead looking Anita in the eyes for the first time that night, “I don’t have a clue.”

Anita nods, unsure of how to answer Loba’s statement. It was matter of fact, almost conversation ending. There was so much Anita still wanted to say, but she didn’t know if it were the right time. She turns, preparing to walk back to her vehicle that was hidden carefully in the bushes not too far off. She tries to push herself forward, citing that Gibraltar needed her back at the bar so they could make their final game plan. But as she takes a few hesitant steps into the darkness, she begins second guessing herself.

_Is it too late to backtrack the conversation? I should turn back and say something._ She thinks to herself, looking over her shoulder at Loba who was now looking up at the starry sky. _Eh, who am I kidding? I had one round in the chamber and I missed my opportunity._ Anita begins to walk again, her footsteps nearly silent on the soft ground.

“Sergeant, wait a moment,” Loba calls out. Anita stops dead in her tracks, turning to face the woman. Loba was still by her ship, making sure Anita knew that some sort of distance had to remain. “You know how you told me to let you know when I knew who the bad guy was?”

“Yeah?” Anita crinkles her brow, clearly confused. She feels her hand inch towards her sidearm, unsure if Revenant had shown back up or if Hammond decided to send goons after them.

The air thickens slightly as Loba takes her time answering. “Just watch your back around half of those Legends...” Loba doesn’t give the other woman time to answer even though she sees Anita take a few cautious steps forward. She quickly boards her ship, closing the hatch, and leaving the soldier outside in the darkness. 

The moonlight is now the only thing that allows Anita to see properly, the statement lingering around her. _Don’t trust half the Legends?_ Anita laughs softly, her chuckle breaking the night air. She didn’t trust any of the Legends as far as she could throw them… except Gibraltar that is. It wasn’t news to her that everyone was possibly out to get one another. _Especially_ after this. 

She turns around, making her way to back her truck. While there was still so much left unsaid, maybe it was better to leave it that way. Loba didn’t trust anyone, and there was no way a simple apology would have her thinking twice. 

Anita sighs as she climbs in the driver's seat, starting it up. The low, rough hum of the engine fills the space, making it the only noise she needed to distract herself. Normally, she would have some sort of music playing in the background but turning to such an escape didn’t feel right. The world she had previously known was crumbling around her, and to shut it out with noise that made everything seem okay wasn’t something she felt she could do. She needed the silence, the thought provoking darkness. She needed to have a plan for how to keep the Hammond wolves at bay. 

Quietly, Anita puts the truck in gear and begins to drive back to the city. The drive was long, bumpy, and not as soothing as she thought it would be. She couldn’t think of a plan like she had to. Instead, she couldn’t stop thinking about Loba. Anita grips the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. An odd feeling begins to swell in her… she should have asked Loba to come with her. It wasn’t safe with Revenant still out there, and the fact that she just left the thief alone worried her. 

As Anita draws closer to the city, she pushes the thought away. Loba was able to take care of herself, and Anita needed to remember that. Loba didn’t need a knight in shining armor. She never needed one before and she certainly wouldn’t even want to consider the thought of one now. 

The city is a blur as Anita drives through, her mind now refusing to think at all. When she reaches Paradise Lounge, she’s still mindless as she enters the creaky front doors. The inside of the lounge is loud, musty, and dim… a stark contrast to the clear, quiet night the planet was experiencing for once. She walks into a small mass of people blocking her way to further enter the bar. She clears her throat, the noise rising above the chatter and music. They immediately turn and look at her, scrambling when they realize who it is. It wasn’t everyday Anita never made such a public appearance, but she also had more important things to take care of than to snarl at the people who got in her way.

“Aha! There you are!” Gibraltar shouts as he makes his way through the small crowd. When he reaches her, he places an arm around her shoulders and guides her towards one of the back corners of the bar. Anita raises an eyebrow at him, her eyes quickly scanning the bar. 

She sees some of the Legends hanging out amongst themselves. She sees Ajay getting the cold shoulder from Octane as Wraith looks on, slightly amused. Wattson is sticking close to Wraith, her posture tight as she examines every person who comes near her. Mirage is running around, trying to serve everyone and almost tripping over his own feet. Not surprisingly, both Caustic and Crypto are both nowhere to be seen. Probably a wise move on Crypto’s part because Anita has been thinking of ways to show him what happens to traitors. A bit more surprising, Bloodhound and Pathfinder were nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Peppy-Step and Nature Guide?” Anita questions her only friend among the Legends.

“They went to go take the artifact where Hammond wanted it,” he answers as they reach an empty back table with a couple bottles of beer and a bottle of whiskey with an empty glass on the top. Anita hums an acknowledgment, sitting down behind the whiskey as Gibraltar takes the other seat. 

“I thought the whole point of having me come back so quickly was so that way we could formulate some sort of final plan.” Anita takes her whiskey glass, fills it, and knocks back the entire shot at once. After the night she’s had, it would do well to try and forget some of it. 

“It was, but they insisted that it would be just as easy for them to take it themselves.”

Anita nods, refilling her glass. She scans the room once again, her eyes falling on a rather small crowd of men surrounding the corner of the bar. As the crowd shifts, she notices that a familiar woman is in the middle of them, batting her eyes or flashing flirtatious smiles. Anita drinks in the sight, unsure of how to react to Loba making a public appearance so soon.

“She came with you?” Gibraltar had turned around and noticed what Anita was looking at.

“No,” she simply replies, taking a sip of her alcohol but not taking her eyes off Loba. 

“So, you’re just staring for no reason?” Gibraltar smirks, taking another swig of his beer to match his friend.

“I’m not staring.” Anita feels her grip tighten around her glass as her eyes dart to him to give him a hard stare. “I’m just making sure Long Limbs isn’t lurking anywhere to get his filthy claws on her.”

Gibraltar chuckles, clearly not believing what she’s saying but deciding to drop the subject. Anita recognizes his teasing, rolling her eyes in response. Moments later, she finds her eyes back on the mysterious thief. Anita takes a swig of her drink trying to convince herself that all of this going on was simply keeping an extra eye out. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anita doesn’t know how long she sat there watching Loba flirt with the men around her. Batting her eyes and placing her hand just right, she had them practically kneeling in front of her. As the small crowd shifts again, Anita notices Loba look up and make eye contact. The two hold the stare for an uncomfortable moment, Anita’s face is unchanging as Loba’s turns into one of practical dissatisfaction. Loba slowly looks away, her attention and flirtatiousness falling to someone else.

Anita feels her gaze fall back on her glass. She wasn’t sure why the sudden break felt like a rejection. She wasn’t looking for approval, only to get Loba out of the mess she created for her… even if that meant keeping an eye out for the Sim a little longer. 

She clears her throat, trying to drop the creeping thoughts and odd feelings before they even make themselves fully known. “So, G, we got hiatus coming up in a few matches. Why don’t we pay our favorite gunsmith a visit, eh?”


End file.
